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I thought I had better take a photo of the car I was driving before leaving Munich. Here it is... a Volkswagen Golf 1.6 TDI. Extremely fuel efficient car. The trip computer indicated a whopping 900km on a full tank of diesel.
Not a very interesting interior though... but very well-built, as are all German makes.
(Don't ask how I took this photo.)
Even though the Golf is a teeny-weeny car, it is extremely stable, and it was not a problem at all on the speed-limitless Autobahns in Germany. I have only dared to get this thing to 190kmh. As you can see, the tachometer was still miles away from the red line, so there was still a lot of room for this thing to go faster. Oh yes, as an indication of how fuel efficient it was, the engine revved at only 1500rpm at 80kmh.
I love how the engine bays look on European (especially German) vehicles. Always with this huge engine cover that makes the engine bay look very very tidy. Those of you who build car model kits (with engine details) will know what I mean. A pleasure to look at them. Very unlike the mess on Japanese cars.
With this, I bid farewell to Munich, bringing along with me fond memories that I will cherish many many years down the road. It had been a tremendous task setting up the station, training new staff, handling the Volcano Crisis, amongst many many other things. It's been an unforgetable experience. Auf wiedersehen!
Who's the highest of them all?
So this is it... the car that I have been driving for the past six months... a Ford Fiesta 1.25L manual. Very nimble and functional little car, but unfortunately I never got to drive it in water like what Clarkson did with the Royal Marines. Nonetheless, still a pleasure driving this piece of junk.
In case you're wondering, I had to the floor the accelerator between work and home everyday on the Autobahn... and it goes only as fast as 160km/h max.
If you miss my shoot-while-driving stunts, here's another one done with my right foot stuck to the floor... (kids, do not do this when you are driving your dad's car)
That's right... a damned piling machine... right behind my apartment. What a &^%$#^%$&^% peaceful day I had on my off day at home...
Some people call us weirdos... some call us crazy nuts... some even think we're an entirely different species... and most don't understand why we spend three-quarters of our lives caressing our step ladders in the hot stinking sun by the runway fence far from human civilisation armed with heavy humongous SLRs weighing a ton each. Well... just call us plane spotters. Not plain spotters, but PLANE spotters.
Yes, if you've ever had a chance to spend 5 minutes observing us, you'll notice that we hardly talk to each other. We just stand there, gazing into the blue open skies, gazing into the distant, or glance at our watches, all in the hope of something unusual and rare appearing in front of our eyes. When when a rare "bird" does appear, we climb onto our ladders in unison, and if it's your lucky day, you will hear a burst of camera shutters firing away, just like what you and your colleagues would do with automatic rifles if you had a chance to kill your boss. And immediately after that, you will see us bow our heads (just like how you would as a sign of respect after killing your boss) and stare intently on the LCD screens on our cameras while we scrutinise each and every one of our shots.
That's us... we're plainly plane spotters.
The Mercedes-Benz SL Night Edition. Finished in a [fill in your own adjective here] semi-gloss black (or if you are the pessimistic sort, semi-MATT black). Designed especially for those with a phobia of the sun and can only live at night. With this Night Edition, you can go driving about both day and night.
Yes... you are right... I'm driving the miserable Ford Fiesta parked next to the Mercedes Night-All-Day...
... and nope, I did not bang my door on the Night-All-Day...
Every Station Manager's nightmare...
So this is how you should park your Mercedes-Benz SL...
